Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2005. Our April tradition was to take Mattie to the National Arboretum to see the amazing azaleas in bloom. The arboretum in DC is down right incredible with azaleas for as far as the eye can see. They look electric and there is a beautiful trail that winds around these incredible bushes. Mattie always enjoyed the floral celebration in honor of his birthday. I had no idea that Peter snapped a photo of us that day, but I do recall holding that soft little hand like it were yesterday.
Quote of the day: One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today. ~ Dale Carnegie
Mattie Miracle had a very successful April Item drive. Almost all items are collected now. I only have one more major donation to pick up from our friend Toni (Brandon's mom). We are almost there! Today I picked up items in Bethesda, MD. The item drive has been far reaching across our area and that is a wonderful sight to see. While picking up items, I visited with my friend Evelyn and her 3 year old son, Sam. Sam and I relate to each other quite well. Sam is an active, bright, inquisitive, talkative, and engaging fellow. He LOVES to play with Legos and has no problem sitting down and including me in his play schemes. At one point, he had his arm in my lap while he was playing, which led me to believe he was comfortable in my presence. His imaginative play with Legos reminded me of Mattie. Mattie was quite a teacher. When I was pregnant with him I worried that I wouldn't know how to raise a boy. Of course once he was born, we learned together, and I quickly got with the program of cars, trains, things with wheels, playing with mud, sand, and other messy items! We evolved together and it is through this evolution, I have learned to interact with young children. In fact, my ages of comfort are newborn to age 7. However, after age 7, I am not as comfortable, most likely because I have no intimate or personal experience raising a child passed age seven. Donna, one of the kindergarten teachers at Mattie's school always tells me that I am a great educator of young children. That makes me laugh, since I have NO formal training educating kids! My only teacher was Mattie and apparently he taught me well!
This Wednesday is my last art session at Mattie's school. The third session is always very special. In this session, I basically talk with the children about the friendship and rivalry between Matisse and Picasso. They see PowerPoint slides of art work created by both artists side by side. These two legends painted similar objects and content, purposefully, to out do the other! Their rivalry may have actually inspired them to perfect their art form and style! In this third session we focus on the art form of still life. In fact, tomorrow afternoon, I will head into Donna's classroom to set up for Wednesday's lesson. I bring in a tablecloth, a vase filled with fresh sunflowers, and bananas in order to create a scene for the children to try to capture on their own canvas. Right now you should see the classroom! It is filled with ALL their art that has been created over the last three weeks. It is beautiful and once their still life paintings are done, there is no telling how colorful the classroom will become. One of the things the kids love about the third session is how I end it. Since they are painting fruit, I treat them to a buffet of fresh fruits with all sorts of dipping sauces. I bring in colorful plates, napkins, and forks and you should see them as they approach the buffet table of snacks! I love the ohs and ahs and watching them chat about their art and food experience. Mind you, I asked Donna to assess the class' top three fruit choices. So I know which fruits they will eat.... being prepared in my perspective is key with young children!!!
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